Chapter 15.1

I walked just ahead of the soldiers, keeping my lips pursed and my eyes ahead of me. With Captain Otto heading the investigation, I needed to be careful about what I said and how I said it, considering that he knew. I guess Vicki had more over him that I thought; otherwise I'd be in a camp by now. The soldiers seemed to take great pleasure in walking me past my coworkers. I could hear gasps and people murmuring, even if I was released, Allen, Carly and Felix would be the only people I could stalk to again. Nobody else would treat me the same.

"See how they look at you?" Otto asked. "This is how they're supposed to look at you. See how disgusted they are, how scared? Some of them are just worried about protecting their own ass. They'll turn against you one by one, spinning any lie they need to stay out of the prison camps. They like their freedom, or their illusion of freedom. Truthfully, they have no more freedom than the prisoners do."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.

"Because, you're never going to see them again, so why not let you know that they're no better off," he said. "I could put you in a camp right now if I wanted."

"If you haven't turned me in already, why would you now?" I asked.

"Lieutenant Kruchev is dead," Otto said. "I have nothing to fear from Victoria anymore, you are fair game to me."

I tightened my jaw and tried to keep my facial expression under control. "When did that happen?" I asked. Did they find them? Were they all dead? If so, why just grab me, it doesn't make sense. They knew so much more about the resistance than I did, grabbing me made no sense. No, she's not dead. They wouldn't need to question me if they had them alive or dead, all of the evidence was in the apartment. They could take me straight to an execution chamber, or execute me on the spot. No, they're still alive, he doesn't know where they are. He can't use them against me.

I hope.

We exited the maintenance bay at that point and ascended to the street where a hover car waited with another four dead heads in riot gear. One of them opened the door and Otto brought me to a halt. "Say good bye to your old life, Tawny," he said. "From now on you're mine to with what I choose."

I felt a smile cross my lips.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"You trained me in the art of interrogation resistance," I said. "and you were a very good teacher."

"I trained you how to resist torture," Otto said. "Nobody said I was going to torture you."

"Then what are you going to do to me?" I asked.

"I'm going to make you want to talk," he said. "Watch your head."

I allowed him to bend my head as he guided me into the back seat of the vehicle. I settled in, shifting around until my arms fell into the divots in the back of the seat. With a deep breath, I closed my eyes as the door slammed shut, engulfing me in darkness.

Various other doors slammed shut and I did my best to keep my mind from freaking out as I sat there. I did everything I could to keep my mind off of what Otto could have possibly meant but my thoughts kept straying back. I took a deep breath and released it, before tuning into the hovercar around me. Stand issue city military transport by the sound of the engine, Carly worked on them a lot. It is surprising how many of these break down in a given month.

When the hovercar came to a stop, heard the doors open and shut and then my door opened. Captain Otto grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the car, standing me up in a loading bay.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Don't you recognize it?" Otto asked as we began walking. Guards fell in step beside us. "You broke a man out of here last week, a rather dangerous man."

"I've never been to this facility," I said. "And I don't know what you are talking about, there's been no news about an escaped criminal."

"And there never will be, could you imagine what the civvies would do if they knew a Class A was running around free? There would be revolt, or we would have to give into strict martial law. No, nobody will ever know about the escape expect those of us right here. Do you know what else nobody will ever know?"

We walked down a white hallway with orange tinted glass revealing cells with a single occupant. We stopped at an empty one and the door opened.

"Just what won't people know?" I asked as Otto walked me into the cell and removed the handcuffs.

Otto stepped back out of the cell and the door shut. "That you are here."